𝙽𝚎𝚠 𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕 (Rodrick Heffley)

Chapter 1 | First impressions matter

-*-*-*-

I sit down at my desk in my new room.

I moved into a new apartment with my childhood friend Avery and her sister. Avery's mom recently died and she won custody of her sister. I moved in with her to help her with her sister as they're going through a lot. Upon doing so, I had to move schools as my parent's house is around an hour away.

I sling my bag over my shoulder and leave my room. I head to the kitchen, Avery is probably still in bed. She hasn't gotten her sister into a school yet so there's no reason to be up at this time.

-*-(School)-*-

Shit, my pen has run out, already.

The girl sitting beside me chews her pencil whilst slouching as she stares at the board. I lean over.

"Hey, do you um, have a spare pen?" I ask.

She doesn't say anything, digs through her pencil case, and hands me a pen.

"Thank you!" I whisper, "I'm Y/n, what's your name?"

She looks me up and down and laughs before looking at the board.

"Okay..," I say, turning to the board.

I do kinda look like a loser, I guess. All the girls here look gorgeous and I hardly put on any makeup today, as I usually do, I just couldn't be bothered this morning but first impressions really matter.

I open the pen and it's leaking, I get ink all over my book and hand. I roll my eyes.

I put my hand up.

"Yes, new girl," the teacher says.

"Can I go to the toilet?" I ask.

"There's 5 minutes."

"I got ink on my hands."

"You may."

I grab my stuff, shove it in my bag and I stay silent as I walk out of the classroom and go to the bathroom.

It's empty, thank fuck.

I stare at myself in the mirror as I wash my hands. The only makeup I put on was mascara and I didn't even attempt to curl them. I roll my eyes. I am about to grab paper towels to dry my hands but I hear girls walking into the bathroom, laughing, so, out of fear, I jump into a stall and lock it.

"She looks so weird..." I hear a girl say.

I peer through the crack in the stall, it's the girl, who gave me the pen.

"When is the school gonna get more pretty girls?" another asks.

"God, I know, we need more friends," she rolls her eyes before they both laugh, "Who am I kidding? I am one of the most popular girls at this school."

"We are!"

"Yeah, of course, we."

One of the girls kicks at the toilet stall before they run off laughing. I feel tears stream down my face. I stand up and look at my outfit. 

-*-(Next day)-*-

I change into a more presentable outfit: a dark-blue denim mini skirt with embroidery on the pockets and a black long-sleeve, low-cut crop top. I take time doing my skincare hair and makeup, in an attempt to look presentable and actually make friends because yesterday was embarrassing.

-*-(School)-*-

I'm about to walk into class when a girl says, "I love your skirt, new girl," causing me to turn around.

I'm greeted by a blonde girl, smiling at me.

"I'm Becca Burks," she says, causing my heart to drop.

I've been here for a day and her name is all I've heard. She's one of the most popular girls in the whole entire school.

"You are?" she asks.

"Y/n, Y/n Wright."

"Cute name. Why don't you join me at lunch?" she asks.

"Uh, yeah, of course."

"Great, what class do you have before lunch?"

"LPT, uh Sci7."

"No way, me too, girl! Mr Pratt is so annoying, just an FYI," she says, "Anyway, I should be going, don't want another detention," she walks off as she waves.

I wave back. 

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

-*-*-*-

I go into class and slump down at a desk near the front as I'm one of the last in so it's the only option. I stare off at the multiple displays hung up across the classroom. I let out a sigh.

"You, with the h/c hair, are you new?" the teacher asks.

My eyes widen as I gesture to myself.

"Mhm."

"Uh, yeah!" I say.

"Great, Y/n Wright, right?" she asks.

"Yes!"

"Great, great."

The teacher begins to fill out the register. After the teacher repeats his name multiple times, I hear the voice next to me groggily answer to 'Rodrick'. I immediately turn to him.

SASJFDHSA SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH.

This is so embarrassing - I'm staring.

I turn my head to the front, attempting to concentrate. But I feel an undisguised gaze upon me. The feeling of his gaze is so distracting. As I desperately try to focus on the teacher, the weight of his stare feels like an invisible force, pulling my attention away from the lesson. I turn to look at him and his eyes widen before he quickly looks away.

He's so fucking cute.

"What do you want?" I whisper.

He looks back, almost immediately. His little head trying to conjure up a response, he tilts it and whispers back, "Got a spare pen, new girl?"

"You have one in your hand."

"It's uhm, ran out..."

That's a lie. I can see the ink tube is filled up almost fully. I sigh and dig through my pencil case before handing him a pen. He takes it and smiles.

His smile is so perfect...

No. He's ugly. 

I scribble little doodles in the corner of my sheet.

I've always been into art and writing. So doing doodles in this class is pretty perfect because I combine two of my favorite things.

I look at Rodrick in the corner of my eye and his head is once again flat on the desk. He must be pretty tired. I look him up and down, messy dark hair, which is the perfect length to make him look clean but not necessarily neat, a brown band shirt with a black skims shirt under it, and some dark blue baggy jeans.

God, I'm fucked. He's got a chokehold on me, already.

-*-*-*-